Tennis stars Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu are eliminated from the US Open mixed doubles tournament, while Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud advance to the semifinals.
The 2025 US Open's mixed doubles competition has sparked controversy, with a radical restructuring prioritising top singles players and condensing the event into just two days. This change has generated strong pushback from doubles specialists, who feel sidelined by the new approach.
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, the 2024 champions and 2025 semifinalists, have expressed their disapproval. They hope to change the narrative about the importance of doubles players in the future. The pair, who are the only true doubles team in the 2025 event, criticised the new format as disrespectful to players specialized in doubles.
The new format uses singles rankings instead of doubles rankings for entry and seeding, allowing more high-profile singles players to participate. It also schedules the entire mixed doubles event before the main tournament, eliminating conflicts with singles play and encouraging singles stars’ participation. The event operates on a condensed schedule over two days, rather than running throughout the fortnight.
Despite the controversy, the tournament has seen some exciting matches. Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz lost their first-round match to Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula, while Iga Świątek and Casper Ruud advanced to the semifinals. Defending champions Errani and Vavassori have won both of their matches so far, defeating Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, and then Karolina Muchová and Andrey Rublev.
Draper and Pegula will play third seeds Iga Świątek and Casper Ruud for a spot in the final. The semifinals will also see Errani and Vavassori continuing their title defense against the American pairing of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison.
The prize money for the winning pair stands at $1 million, an increase of $800,000 from 2024. However, the impact on doubles specialists is significant. Their opportunities and recognition in the mixed doubles draw are diminished amid a field dominated by singles stars, and the format change seems to marginalize their role in a Grand Slam event traditionally important to the doubles community.
The backlash suggests doubles players feel sidelined by the new approach, which some perceive as favoring marketing and entertainment value over doubles tennis integrity. Errani and Vavassori, in particular, have stated that they are playing for the doubles specialists who have lost the chance to win a grand slam due to the mixed doubles format.
In a surprising turn of events, Iga Świątek and Casper Ruud, who both lifted singles titles at the Cincinnati Open on Monday, arrived in New York on a private jet for the US Open. Iga Świa
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